Elevated carrier.



F. L. PUTMAN. ELEVATED CARRIER. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22, 1913.

INVENTOR flaw/ A fa/mcm Patented Mar. 3, 1914.

WITNESSES ATM/M578 FRANK LAWRENCE PUTIVIAN, 0F LII-IUE, TERRITORY OF HAWAII.

ELEVATED CARRIER.

Application filed January 22, 1913.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK L. PUTMAN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lihue, in the county of Kauai and Territory of Hawaii, have invented a new and Improved Elevated Carrier, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to elevated carriers and has particular reference to apparatus of this class adapted for various uses such, for instance, as gathering various commodities over a field or wide scope of operation and conveying the same to a distant point for delivery or deposit.

One of the objects of this invention, therefore, is to improve this class of devices whereby various species of operation may be performed in a more convenient and reliable manner than has heretofore been possible or expedient, and by the employment of distant power.

A further object of the invention is to construct an elevated carrier having the capability of action in such a manner that the cableway will accommodate itself both to gathering and hoisting functions without being required to be adjusted during transition from one function to the other.

A still further object of the invention is to provide an endless running cableway so arranged and supported as to adapt it for a continuous species of operation including both the gathering and hoisting functions.

The foregoing and other objects of the in vention will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed and illustrated in the drawings accompanying this specification in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of an elevated carrier made in accordance with this invention and showing somewhat diagrammati cally its adaptation to one species of operation to which it is adapted; and Fig. 2 is a diagram indicating the same apparatus, certain parts being in different positions from those indicated in Fig. 1.

The several parts of this apparatus may be made of any suitable materials and the relative sizes, proportions and strengths thereof may be varied, and the general design of the equipment may be varied. to a considerable extent without departing from the spirit of the invention hereinafter Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 3, 1914:.

Serial No. 743,461.

claimed, it being understood furthermore that the terms employed in this specification are to be interpreted in a broad sense except when ILQSLliCtlOIlS thereon are demanded because of the state of the art. For instance, the term sling, which will be used for convenience of description hereinafter as representing one form of gathering means for use in connectionwvitli the elevated carrler, especially in the broader aspects of the invention, is to be interpreted as being broad enough to cover other devices such, for instance, as buckets for the conveyance of coal or other minerals, or scoops for digging and conveying earth, sand or the like.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, I show at and 11 a pair of elevated supports or towers of any suitable construction shown as being mounted respectively upon trucks 12 and 13, whereby the towers are adjustable or transportable along lines parallel to the line or field of operation represented by the space between the towers. It is to be understood that the said towers will be high enough for the purpose of giving proper span to the elevated carrier and at the same time they shall be mounted upon trucks having suflicient breadth of tread to prevent likelihood of accidental tilting or upsetting of the towers during transportation. WVhen in operation, the respective towers may be steadied by guys 14: adapted to be snubbed temporarily around any suitable form or construction of deadinen 15.

At 16 is shown an endless running power cable operative transversely of the line of operation between the towers aforesaid, that is to say, operative within lines or planes extending from one tower to the other and transverse to the direction of movement of the towers during the progress of the work to be performed.

At 17 I show a yoke or frame carrying a pair of pulleys 18 over which the two runs of one portion of the cable 16 operate, forming the loop 16 having suitable frictional engagement around a drum 19 adapted to be driven according to the demands of any particular species of operation from a motor 20 located at any convenient place on or near the truck 12. Another portion of the cable is guided over a direction pulley 21 adjacent the top of the opposite tower 11.

The cable 16 is understood to be connected to the tops of the towers by any suitable means whereby the desired gathering, conveying and hoisting functions may be effected. F or instance, the pulley 21 is shown connected to a block and tackle 22, the rope 23 from which is extended downward to or toward the truck 13, and after a proper adjustment of the pulley 21, said rope 23 will be snubbed as at 24 in a substantially fixed position. The frame 17 likewise is connected to a block and tackle 25 connected to the top of the tower 10 and having its rope 26 extending down and suitably connected as to a power drum 27, whereby force may be applied to the block and tackle to give the frame and pulleys 18 carried there by any desired degree of elevation in order that the desired tension on the cable 16 may result in accordance with the particular work to be done, or according to the contour of the field of operation between the towers.

As will be understood from the diagram of Fig. 2, the frame 17 may be lowered to any desired extent from the top of the tower 10 in order that the cable 16 may be brought into proximity to the field of operation, either directly upon it for a certain distance or close enough thereto for the application of the gathering means or slings. In one adaptation of operation as, for instance, in gathering and conveying sugar cane, a considerable portion of the cable may be lowered into proximity to the field, and workmen along the same may secure to the cable any suitable number of slings 28, representing as many portions of cane to be gathered from the field and delivered for deposit into a wagon or car 29. The cable 16 may be stationary for this purpose, and after a suflicient quantity of slings, or all of the slings necessary for gathering the cane lying in proximity to the cable with respect to one adjustment of the towers, have been connected to the cable, the cable will be put under tension through the operation of the block and tackle 25 as above described, and after sufficient tension has thus been applied, the cable will be set in motion through the operation of the drum 19 whereby the slings will be conveyed in succession over the car 29 for delivery of their contents in an obvious manner. During this part of the operation, any number of such slings will be caused to deliver their loads into the car without interfering with the running of the cable, it being understood, of course, that some suitable means will be provided for detaching the slings from the cable before they reach the pullev 21.

As a modification of the foregoing operation under certain conditions, the cable 16 may, by virtue of the block and tackle 25, be adjusted at such distance from the field of operation as to make it expedient for the power cable to operate continually in the direction above indicated. If the speed thereof be not too great, one or more slings may be gripped thereto at any convenient point and conveyed and hoisted thereby for delivery at the dump or into the car. The foregoing illustrations of operation are to be understood as being but a few examples of various possible modes of operation to which my apparatus is adapted.

As shown in the first two figures of the drawings, any point or portion of the cable 16 to which a load is connected will be operated along in a path corresponding to the curves of an ellipse; that is to say, such point or portion of the cable will pass along upon or close to the field of operation for a considerable distance and will then be caused to be elevated therefrom as it approaches the one support or tower and at which point the load may be delivered into the car or upon the dump. It will be understood, therefore, that with the cable properly positioned through the operation of the blocks and tackles 22 and 25, the dual function of gathering over a considerable portion of the field and the hoisting to the place of deposit may be efiected by a simple traversing movement of the cable without further adjustment.

Having this described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent In an elevated carrier, the combination of a pair of spaced elevated supports, an endless power cable operating between said supports, means extending from the tops of said supports to sustain portions of said cable, means to vary the points of application of said supporting means to said cable portions and maintain them in such positions of adjustment, and means to operate the cable when so adjusted as to cause one portion thereof to move from the ground through an elliptical path up toward one of the elevated supports.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK LAXVRENCE PUTMAN. lVitnesses G120. L. BEELER, PHILIP D. RoLLHAUs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G. 

